Through the Ice
by DragonLover4Life
Summary: Yona and Hak are out hunting when Yona falls through a frozen pond. Hak races to get her warm to stave off hypothermia.


It was a bitterly cold morning when Hak first woke up. Winter had begun to settle in, and the air was now miserably cold. The kind of cold that bit at your face and hurt your lungs with every breath you took.

Still, laying around doing nothing would only make him colder. The group had managed to save up their last few bits of coin in order to buy good winter clothing and supplies. It had taken them weeks of selling the last medicinal herbs of the season Yun could find and turn into tinctures to afford it, but in the end they had managed to scrape by with the help of a little bartering, and in Jae-ha's case, flattery here and there.

Feeling another strong wind try to batter its way through the tent walls, Hak forced himself up and out from under the warmth of his blanket with only a bit of grumbling and pulled the collar his of fur lined robes tighter.

They had all managed to buy warm boots to trek through the snow and some thick material that Yun could use to make them new clothes to keep the wind out. With the help of his and Yona's daily hunting endeavors, they had then managed to get enough pelts to line all their clothing with soft downy fur before it had gotten too cold.

It was now more than ever that he was grateful for such things as he made his way into the centre of their camp to rekindle the fire for the day.

Yun was the next to make an appearance, as usual, huddled deep into his thick cloak and rubbing his gloved hands together.

"Seems like a nasty day out today, huh Thunder beast? Maybe you and Yona should stay here for the day. It looks like a storm's going to be heading in soon if this wind has anything to say about it." Yun mused between chattering teeth as the fire finally took and started to burn higher.

"As much as I'd like nothing more than to stay here and not leave the fire all day, we could do with more blankets if the temperature keeps dropping like it has been. Something bigger would be great, too. The rabbit fur has been great, but it takes too many of them to actually make anything more than a pair of gloves."

Yun nodded knowingly. They were up in the mountains and if anyone knew how unforgiving it could be out there, it was the two of them. After all, he'd grown up in Fuuga, one of the highest villages in the Wind clan and Yun had spent years living in the valleys with Ik-su. Valley's that tunneled the wind and left everything slick with ice.

Before he could dwell on such thoughts too much longer though, Jae-ha, Kija and Shin-ah began to shuffle their way out of their tent. It seemed Zeno had decided that the best way to beat the cold was to sleep through it, and so he was trying his best to hibernate lately with varying success.

Poor little Ao looked like she wished she was doing the same thing. Unlike a lot of her rodent cousins however, squirrels don't hibernate, so instead she seemed to have opted for burying herself into Shin-ah's fur piece and refusing to leave for more than a few minutes at a time to grab nuts and seeds that she'd hidden away into some of their bags and clothes when they weren't looking.

"I'll go cut down a tree for some more firewood." Offered Kija, nodding towards their dwindling pile of firewood as way of greeting.

Hak wouldn't have thought it possible, but White Snake looked even paler in the white backdrop. Evidently, he was the least happy of them all to be stuck outside in the snow for the winter given how little he enjoyed camping to begin with, but seemed to be a little better after they had all woken up one morning to find someone from his village had snuck into their camp and dropped off a veritable closet full of warm winter cloaks for them all.

Cloaks that they were all currently wearing.

Shin-ah simply trudged a few steps away and picked up a nearby bucket, filling it with snow for them to melt into drinking and cooking water for their breakfast while Jae-ha cracked open a flask that he'd taken to keeping in his pocket as his own means of warming up.

Catching Hak's eye, he shot him a grin and took a long swig before tossing it over so he could do the same. He accepted gladly.

Last to shuffle out from her blanket cocoon was Yona, already shivering despite being wrapped up tight in layers of cotton and fur.

Being as little and lithe as she was, she seemed to do the worst in the cold out of all them. She simply didn't have as much body mass to conserve heat and it worried him at times.

It was one of the reasons he was determined to go out hunting again today. Yun had had the idea that they could line their tent walls with fur to help insulate the whole inside as they slept, but it would take a lot of pelts to cover everything. Still, he was determined. From the bags under her eyes he knew that she'd been losing sleep to the cold these last few nights.

Kija returned with more firewood just as Yun was finishing up breakfast, hefting an impressive pile of logs large enough to be used as benches in his dragon claw. He'd seen it many times, but still he found the sight impressive and worthy of respect even if they still fought to get along. Shin-ah returned around the same time with his bucket of snow, and the group all huddled around the fire as they ate.

Once they'd eaten, Hak went to find his Guan-dao as Yona grabbed her bow, silently ready and waiting to head out with him as soon as he was.

It was the kind of easy routine that they had fallen into over time. A sort of communication between the two of them that needed no words.

It was helpful too. In the beginning, when Yona had first joined him to hunt she'd been inexperienced and rather loud, asking questions and having a hard time keeping up while stomping all over the place. Now he was the one sometimes racing to catch up and having to work harder to keep his heavier footfalls quiet amongst the fallen leaves.

With her light step and swift gate, she had become an impressive huntress. He often had to remind himself to focus on the hunt itself these days instead of admiring her skill as she lined up a shot with expert precision. She'd learned well and practiced hard, and the results were evident.

Once he'd grabbed his weapon, he simply picked a direction and began walking, hearing the soft crunch of snow behind him, letting him know that she was still there.

Another thing that had changed with the coming of winter.

Normally they might have walked side by side, each covering a half of the trail to look for quarry. With the snow getting deeper these days however, Yona would have a hard time keeping up and so he had taken the lead, wading through the deeper sections so that she might step in his footprints to make it easier. It was almost comical when he'd look behind him and find her hopping from step to step like a snow hare, her own boots getting swallowed up in the size of his prints.

Still, she never complained, instead taking everything in stride and focusing on looking for birds above while he looked for animals on the ground. A team in every way.

They continued on like this for a few hours, having no luck other than the lone snow goose Yona had managed to shoot down. Good for a meal, but not so much for liners, so they decided to keep going. Unfortunately, with the weather only getting nastier as the day went on, most animals were smart enough to stay tucked away either underground or protected in some other way.

They had stopped for a moment as Hak bent over to breathe into his cupped hands to warm up a bit, and he was about to suggest they call it a day and just head back when Yona suddenly tore passed him, racing through the snow with little regard now for its depth.

Startled by this, he quickly looked around to try and see what it was she was after and it only took a moment for him to spot what had caught her attention.

A large grey wolf stood sniffing around what appeared to be an old deer carcass.

It was so preoccupied with its meal, it hadn't seemed to notice them yet. That, or being the larger predator, it didn't see them as much of a threat. Hak now watched her push ahead, trying to get to an open flat nearby where she could get a clear shot. A dangerous move if it decided to turn around on her, but the reward, should she succeed, would be more than substantial for them.

Trying to keep his movement more subtle than she had, Hak began to stalk his way over to where she was headed so he could help carry the thing back after.

Yona however, while a good dozen feet ahead of him, was still inching just a little further out to try and get a better shot. He could see her trying to line it up, but with where the wolf was standing, a large maple was obscuring a proper lethal blow.

Inch by inch, she eased her way further and Hak kept still so not to distract her.

Then, just as she began to draw her bow, the string creaking and stiff with cold, there was a sickening crack.

Everything seemed to stand still for a moment as he watched her looked down beneath her to find that the clearing was not in fact a clearing, but a pond that had frozen over and been hidden by the fresh snow.

Looking over to Hak, their eyes only managed to meet for a moment before another loud crack tore through the air along with her shriek before she was gone.

He almost couldn't register what his eyes were telling him.

One minute she was there, fear beginning to creep into the edges of her eyes and the next she had vanished.

No, not vanished, but _fallen_.

She'd fallen through the ice, into the freezing water below, and in the split second that it took for all this to race through his mind he was already sprinting towards the edge of the pond, the wolf having already loped off once Yona's shriek had startled it.

As he reached the edge, she breached the surface again, gasping for the air that the cold water had knocked out of her, her fingers curled stiff even as she frantically tried to crawl back up onto the ice.

Her efforts only lead to more ice splintering off around her and getting dunked back under the surface before she came sputtering back up again.

Even as he wanted nothing more than to race over and reach down into the water to yank her up to safety, there was no way the ice would hold his weight if it hadn't even been able to hold hers. So, instead, he dropped to his stomach at the edge where the ice was thicker, trying his best to disperse as much weight as possible and held onto the blade of his Guan-dao. It barely even registered to him as the blade cut into the palm of his hand as he reached the blunt pole end as close to her as possible.

"Princess! You've gotta grab on, I'll pull you out okay? Kick your legs so that you're parallel with the ice to keep it from breaking and crawl towards me!"

She tried to respond but all that came out were more laboured, wet coughs as she tried to do as he said, kicking her legs and reaching as far forward as she could, her eyes never leaving his as they screamed with fear and pain.

With a few lasts kicks from her and by shuffling as close as he dared go, she managed to grab the end of his weapon and he only waited a moment to make sure that she had a good enough hold on it before yanking her towards him fiercely.

And then she was out.

But she was so, so cold.

She hadn't even been submerged for more than two minutes but already, her lips were turning blue and she was shaking violently.

Once he had her in his arms he didn't hesitate before scooping her up and tucking her in close to shield her as best as he could from the wind and taking off into a sprint. Or at least, as fast as he could manage in the ever-deepening snow.

They had trekked a good four to five hours away from camp in their search for quarry so there was no way he'd be able to get her back to Yun and the others for help before she froze to death. He had to get her to shelter and warm her up _now_.

It felt like hours before he finally saw what he'd been looking for, though he knew it could only have been minutes. Still, every damned second he wasted keeping her out in this cold, was one second closer to what could be another danger.

Hypothermia. He'd seen it before as a boy back at the Wind Clan, and while the man had lived, it was not a pretty sight. In the end he'd lost a few toes to the cold, the frostbite having eaten away at them before there was anything they could do. He'd also ended up with some horrible burns when they mistakenly tried to give him a hot bath to warm him up.

Warm. He had to get her warm.

But slowly. If he tried to warm her skin up with a direct heat source like hot water, he'd burn her and cause her even more pain. Possible even _scar_ her.

Quickly he raced towards the mouth of the cave that he knew lay not too far ahead. He was lucky that they weren't too far from the outer edges of Wind Clan territory, so he knew the area well enough to remember that the place even existed.

Better yet still, so long as no one else had camped out here, there should still be an old red-cedar that had been struck by lightning years ago. With any luck it was still standing and he could use it for firewood.

With that in mind he pushed through the last few yards until he made it inside and carefully set Yona down towards the back, kneeling down in front of her to speak.

"Princess, you still with me here? I know you're cold, and I promise we'll warm you up in a second once I get the fire going but you have to get out of those wet clothes for me, do you understand? They'll only make you colder if you keep them on. I'm going to leave my cloak here and my arms bands for you to wrap yourself in once you're done. Can you do that for me?" he wished he had something better to offer her in lieu of underthings and a blanket, but given the situation they'd have to do.

He managed to see her barely nod her head between her shuddering and try her best to shift into a sitting position before he took off again with his glaive to go cut off some branches to start a fire. It wasn't great but it would have to be good enough for now. Thank the Gods he'd decided to go camping all those years ago, otherwise he may never have found the place.

When he returned with the firewood, he set straight to work and started to make a fire nearer to a divot in the wall that they could sit in to help keep them sheltered from the wind.

"Come on, come _on_! Light, you bastard!" he muttered to himself, blowing gently on the first few sparks to take hold, trying desperately to just _will _it into a roaring fire.

Finally, it caught and was burning steadily enough that he was confident that the fire wasn't going to sputter back out as soon as he looked away from it. Adding a few large branches to build it up, he raced back over to Yona's side to check on her.

She was still shivering like mad with her teeth clacking together hard enough he was worried they might break, but she'd managed to take off all her wet clothes and dump them into a pile before curling herself into his cloak so that she was nothing but a vibrating bundle of fur.

Looking down at his own clothes they were pretty soaked through as well from carrying her, and with a little bit of his initial panic gone, he was starting to feel the chill as well.

Grabbing her pile of wet clothes, he shucked off his robe and added it to the pile, doing his best to squeeze out as much of the water as he could before spreading them out on the ground near the fire. He knew they'd more likely freeze solid before they were likely to become dry, but he did it anyway.

With that done he went back and gently scooped up Yona into his arms again and walked them both over to the fire.

Once he was settled, he began to tug his cloak out from around her, receiving nothing but slurred half voiced protests in response as she feebly curled tighter into herself.

"I know, I know. But it's only for a second, this is the best way to warm you up." He said softly as he settled her into his lap and against his chest so that they were skin to skin before wrapping the cloak back around them both. He made sure to gently tug her hair out from beneath so that it lay dripping on the outside instead of down her back. It had already become stiff with ice from the trip to the cave.

Once she felt the heat coming off him, her protests began to turn to sighs of relief as she snuggled closer, letting him wrap his arms tightly around her as she rested her head on his shoulder, her arms and legs tucked in tight to her body.

She was absolutely freezing, and her lips still seemed a shade just off blue, but her breathing was a little less shallow now, bringing him some small form of comfort.

The main challenge now would be keeping her awake until he was sure she was out of the worst danger. Already she had closed her eyes, exhausted from adrenaline and the cold. He wanted nothing more but to let her rest, but he couldn't. Not just yet.

"Hey now Princess, I know you're tired but you gotta stay awake for me just a bit longer okay? Can you do that?" he asked, shaking her shoulder a little to rouse her.

"I-I'll t-try. . . my, my h-hands though. . . t-they _hurt_." She managed to mutter into his neck.

"Try putting them under your arms."

"A-already did." She replied grimly.

"Give 'em here." He replied moving one of his hands from her back to grab her fingers and bring them to his face, alternating between pressing them against his neck and bringing them up to his mouth to breathe warm air onto them.

"T-thank you, H-hak."

"Just let me know if it helps and if anything else hurts." He replied trying to sound calm and in control even as his nerves felt strained.

Warm. He just had to get her warm.

"M-my toes. T-they're pretty b-bad too." She admitted trying to pry one of her still half frozen hands from his own to her numb toes, but he held them firm to his neck, leaning his head to the side against them to try and offer her as much warmth as possible.

"You focus on warming up your hands for now while I try and get some feeling back into your toes alright? Just keep alternating between breathing on them and pressing them against me and moving them around to help keep the blood flow going." He said gently but sternly, relinquishing her hand at last to grab her foot instead, trying to gently but firmly massage the blood to keep circulating while also shifting closer to the fire.

"I-I think that's helping," she said, "I think I'm s-starting to get some f-feeling back, but it aches so badly."

"I know. . . I'm so sorry."

"Hak. W-we've talked about this b-before, so p-please don't start. Neither of us c-could have known, and it h-happened so quickly t-there's nothing you could h-have done. It's no one's _fault_." She said, her words, while still interrupted with shivers, were stern.

No room for argument.

"I know. I know we've had this conversation before so I'm not saying I feel responsible as much as. . . I'm just upset that you're in pain and I can't just take it all away." He admitted, the words feeling hollow and useless as they fell from his lips. He turned his face to look into the fire, no longer able to meet her gaze. As if it would have any sort of answer for him.

He would have continued to stare into the flames too if he hadn't felt ice cold fingers move from their place against his neck to gently touch his cheek and drag his face back to look at her own, where to his surprise he found a smile waiting for him. One filled with fondness even as it screamed defiance.

"I-if I never felt pain, how could I ever know w-what my limits were? W-what could hurt me?" she began, doing her best to keep her words slow and measured so that they'd come out clearer.

"I-if I never felt pain, how could I know just how far I could go? H-how much I could endure?"

Her smile grew softer then.

"I c-can't say that I'm enjoying it right now, but pain is a teacher that will never let you forget it's l-lessons. I'll be more careful to check what's below me if I'm not sure in the future now. I-it would have been nice had I thought to d-do so sooner but that's not always how things happen."

She moved her hand further up so that she could smooth the furrows from his brow.

"I accept my mistakes and any scars that m-may come with them as proof that I have lived and learned. S-so don't wish to take that away from me." She finished, bringing her hand back down to pull his cheek into a crooked smile.

He sighed, letting her freezing hands run over the contours of his face, confirming that she was still there.

Still breathing.

Still with him.

Then he lifted his own hand up to cup her cheek as he held her firmly against him, breathing his words onto her brow as she tilted her head up and closed her eyes, welcoming it.

"You ask for the impossible, but for you I'll try. For you, anything."

She hummed a sound that he assumed meant she was pacified with his words for the time being and they stayed like that for a moment before she leaned back a bit.

"T-that being said," she began finally releasing him, "I c-can't feel my face right now I'm so cold," she admitted now trying to pinch her own cheeks in an attempt to get some feeling back.

Somehow, he managed to huff out a laugh, her attempt at being so cavalier about the whole ordeal amusing some dark part of him even as it left him incredulous.

Incredulous and filled with adoration.

She must have noticed how his features seemed to take on a look of longing even as he tried to hide it. Her own face, melting into a look that he couldn't quite decipher.

And with the adrenaline from his system now gone and leaving him feeling fried, with the feeling of her safe in his arms, her pulse becoming stronger with each passing moment and the look in her eyes, he let his mind shut off and took a risk.

Leaning towards her again, she was still as a statue as his forehead brushed against her own, so close that she could feel his breath wafting over her frozen lips.

So close, and then he paused. It was barely more than a moment, giving her the chance to move away, but she didn't. Instead, at his hesitation she leaned in the rest of the way and brushed her mouth against his, the sensation both bitingly cold and starting a fire within him all at once.

And that was all it took for whatever tether he'd been holding onto to keep himself in check, snapped abruptly as he claimed her mouth with his own.

{*****}

The wind howled outside but neither of them noticed as they lost themselves in each others' arms, Yona, finally feeling relief from the cold work its way down to her bones. Or was it starting in her bones? She couldn't tell anymore, nor did she really care as she felt heat, glorious heat, begin to bubble up inside her as Hak's hands and mouth warmed her skin.

He kissed her lips, her neck, the dip of her collar bone and that sensitive place just behind her ear, making her squirm in his arms even as she hummed with contentment and she felt him smile into her skin.

His hands roamed her bare back, the calluses gently scraping her shoulder blades as his arms banded tightly around her. Finally, she felt warm. Finally, she felt her stiff and frozen muscles began to relax, the ache beginning to melt away like it had never even been there to begin with. And it was so, so lovely.

Too soon though, she felt Hak slowly brush his lips once more against her own before gently pulling away, even as his eyes remained half-lidded.

Her own face must have shown her disappointment as she felt a light chuckle rumble through his chest before her pulled her back against him, tucking her head down under his chin and leaning back against the cave wall.

"Well, your lips don't seem blue anymore, so can assume you're feeling a bit better now?" he asked into her hair.

She simply snuggled closer however and pinched his side, earning another light laugh from him as she wrapped her own arms around his waist in return, letting the heat off his chest warm her cheek as the warmth of the fire sunk into their shared blanket-cloak at her back.

Then together, they let the sound of the wind and snow, and the smell of the fire lull them both to sleep as they waited out the night and the storm.

{*****}

The next morning Hak was up at first light.

He'd continually woken up throughout the night kept to keep the fire going with the branches he'd stripped from the old cedar, doing his best not to let it die down. By now though he'd pretty much gone through his pile of firewood and needed to go and cut off some more.

Still he let himself wait a moment longer, looking down at the small weight still sleeping deeply against him.

At some point her shivers had finally died down and as he stroked her hair he noticed that her cheeks had a healthier parlour to them now then the almost burned looking red blotches that she'd first had when he'd fished her out the water.

Evidently though the ordeal had caught up to her and she was exhausted, sleeping soundly through the whole night even as he had to move her every time he needed to stoke up the fire. He wasn't as worried about it though. She seemed to have gotten off lucky and by some miracle seemed more or less alright and back to normal. Just weak and tired.

Still he wanted to head out back to camp that day on his own and ask Jae-ha to come with him so he could give her a ride back to camp. Even if she seemed alright, he didn't want her walking the four to five hours back herself, and while he would carry her back himself, it would take too long. No, he'd rather suck it up and explain what had happened and ask Droopy Eyes to help out rather than subject her to such a strenuous and miserable journey.

Sighing he let himself hold her for a few more seconds before gently moving her to the ground, keeping her wrapped up tight in the fur cloak they'd shared.

Picking up his still vaguely damp robe he put in on, biting back a wince as he did so before heading out with his guan-dao to chop off some larger branches.

The storm had died down and by now it was snowing only lightly with a fresh dusting of powder. It was the best he could hope for if he wanted to make good time back, so even as he had to dust the snowflakes out of his hair again and again, he was grateful.

Once he was finished, he headed back inside and stoked the fire up again until it was a good few feet high, leaving the rest of the wood over by the opposite wall for later.

Now came the hard part.

Quietly he walked over to where Yona was still curled up asleep and knelt down to gently rouse her. He stoked his thumb over her cheek and whispered, "Princess, I need you to listen for a sec. Are you awake?"

She grumbled lightly in response and pulled the cloak around her tighter, but her eyes slowly fluttered open a crack, enough to let him know she was listening.

"I need to head back to camp to let Yun know what happened so he can give you a once over and make sure you don't get sick from this and to bring Jae-ha back so you won't have to be trudging through the snow for hours. Will you be alright while I'm gone? I got plenty more firewood."

He hated leaving her alone at the best of times, but while she was still weak and exhausted and alone in a cave in the woods, he was especially anxious and unhappy.

"I'll be fine Hak. Just. . . try to give it to Yun gently, I don't want to get yelled at as soon as I get back." She muttered back jokingly, though they both knew the threat of an angry Yun was real and imminent for them both.

"I'll try, but I make no promises." He said, sweeping the hair from her brow and giving her a chaste kiss on the forehead before forcing himself to start the long trek back.

{*****}

Hours later, he made it back to camp and after a quick berating from Yun, Jae-ha took off giving him a piggyback there with only mild complaining that he weighed a ton.

When they reached the cave, the both had quickly headed inside to check that Yona had been alright while Hak was gone.

And she was. Only it seemed she had been rather busy as well, and they had to pause for a moment to take in the scene in front of them.

There, on the rocky floor of the cave in front of the fire sat Yona, whittling away more arrow shafts with some of the thinner branches left over from the pile of firewood he had left her with the carcass of the wolf that had started this whole mess lying casually at her feet.

Jae-ha was the first to find his words, "Well you seem to be doing quite well, Yona-dear. I almost have to wonder if Hak made this whole story up just to get me to give him a piggyback ride."

Ordinarily, Hak might've scowled at him for that or at least swatted him for being stupid but found he was still too stunned and impressed to pay him any notice.

At this Yona just looked up at them both, and gave them a grin, "He wandered back over here while you were gone so I figure at least the hunting trip wasn't an entire disaster. Now we'll have something to bring back that will help pacify Yun!" she exclaimed happily, obviously pleased with her success and at having a peace offering to come back with.

And with an explanation like that, he could no longer keep the wicked grin that spread across his face as he gazed at this wildfire of a woman before him and was reminded all over again how much he loved her.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Yun's always got it in him to tell us off no matter how good the bribe."

{*****}

Hey guys long time no see (I'm sorry!) I thought about writing this one shot a while ago and only just got around to it but I hope you enjoy. I certainly enjoyed writing it while sipping on a warm mug of hot cocoa and listening to the freezing rain trying to break in through my window. Reviews keep me going so any and all are always welcome!


End file.
